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The Lead with Jake Tapper

Senate Passes Coronavirus Relief Bill; Trump Says Testing Expanding, Labs Fear They Don't Have Resources; Trump Administration Ordering Thousands of Ventilators; Distilleries Using Alcohol on Tap to Make Hand Sanitizer. Aired 4:30-5p ET

Aired March 18, 2020 - 16:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

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JAKE TAPPER, CNN ANCHOR: We have some breaking news for you. The Senate in the U.S. just passed the House coronavirus relief bill. CNN senior congressional correspondent Manu Raju is on Capitol Hill for us.

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Manu, what's in the bill?

MANU RAJU, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, this is a bill that was approved by a 90-8 margin, overwhelmingly approved. And this measure ensures that people who want to get tested for coronavirus can do so, not pay for that test.

Also, it would expand unemployment insurance benefits, bolster Food Stamp assistance, as well as increase Medicaid spending to the states and provide some paid leave for displaced workers.

Now, this marks the second aggressive intervention by Washington in the aftermath of the coronavirus crisis and their efforts to try to deal with the economic fallout, as well.

Already, there are active conversations that are happening behind the scenes to push forward on this $1 trillion stimulus plan to deal with all sorts of measures, including providing direct financial assistance to Americans, as well as potential bailout for the airline industry, as well as small business relief.

All that is happening quickly behind the scenes as Senate Republicans try to push forward on something that they can agree to. Then they plan to try to negotiate a bipartisan deal with Senate Democrats before trying to see if they can get something through both chambers in a matter of days.

But Jake, make no mistake. About all told, this is the most significant intervention into the economy since the Great Depression -- Jake.

TAPPER: All right. Manu Raju, thank you so much.

For weeks doctors, lawmakers, and patients have been asking the same question: where are the tests? And despite the president today saying testing capacity is being expanded, some labs are now saying they do not have the resources they need to conduct the tests once those samples, those swabs, arrive.

CNN's Drew Griffin investigates just how dire this situation is.

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DREW GRIFFIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In the cascading shortfalls of the national response to coronavirus, testing labs across the country are sounding the next alarm, telling CNN there are shortages, not just in tests, but the components needed to conduct the tests. The head of a 51-hospital network in the west says key parts are missing.

DR. ROD HOCHMAN, PRESBYTERIAN ST. JOSEPH, SEATTLE: In certain cases, it's reagents, with some of the chemicals that are used. And even in certain cases, it's just the availability of the appropriate swab in order to take the sample.

GRIFFIN: It's the same story at New York Presbyterian Hospital.

DR. YOKO FURUYA, NEW YORK PRESBYTERIAN INFECTIOUS DISEASE: There do continue to be some challenges around expanding the testing significantly at this point.

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GRIFFIN: And at the University of Nebraska's testing lab.

DR. MARK RUPP, INFECTION CONTROL CHIEF, UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA MEDICAL CENTER: We're in the situation now where we actually don't have the reagents to do the extraction from the samples so that we can run the test.

GRIFFIN: Health officials in multiple states tell CNN they do not have enough tests for people who need them because of a shortage.

In Minnesota, the state health agency is limiting testing to only the highest priority specimens "due to a national shortage of COVID-19 laboratory testing materials."

The Ohio Department of Health told CNN they're only "testing our most vulnerable patients" due to a "global shortage of supplies." And in West Virginia, the state health officer says she had to scrape together supplies from flu tests.

DR. CATHY SLEMP, WEST VIRGINIA STATE HEALTH OFFICER: There's all kind of things in the chain of testing. There's swabs. There's -- there's extraction things, et cetera, et cetera. There are shortages on many pieces of it.

GRIFFIN: West Virginia still has a critically low number of tests. Military veteran Kenneth Hawthorne says he's been to the emergency room three times in the last few weeks, sick with a cough, fever, but tested negative for flu. He says he cannot get tested for COVID-19. KENNETH HAWTHORNE, FALLING WATERS, WEST VIRGINIA: They keep telling me

that my wife and I, we're at low risk, so we weren't at priority to take the test.

GRIFFIN: A major test maker, Roche Diagnostics Corporation, tells CNN demand for its tests is "greater than our ability to supply it."

(on camera): How did this happen?

HOCHMAN: Well, I think we needed to rethink how we're going to deal with an epidemic, or pandemic in this case. The minute there was an outbreak in China several months ago, that should have started a whole sequence of events going.

Now, as everyone would say, that's the history. But what are we going to do now?

GRIFFIN (voice-over): industries are responding, ramping up production, and both LabCorp and Quest tell CNN they are greatly increasing the number of tests they can process per day.

But in the meantime, the CEO of the Association of Public Health Laboratories calls the situation a huge problem: "I'm really concerned that we are not going to have the capabilities to test those who really need and should get a test."

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GRIFFIN: Jake, the Food and Drug Administration told CNN it's well aware of these shortages, trying to provide information on alternative sources of reagents, extraction kits, swabs, and more. But as one lab official told me, this is analogous to the run on toilet paper. Labs in this country chasing dwindling supplies and hoping the manufacturers can somehow fill the void, and soon -- Jake.

TAPPER: All right. Drew Griffin, thank you so much.

Coming up, the Trump administration promising more critical supplies, but what more do hospitals need? We're going to talk to our own Dr. Sanjay Gupta next. Stay with us.

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TAPPER: Welcome back.

As doctors, nurses, and other medical experts continue to warn about supply shortages in hospitals in the U.S., President Trump today announced his plans to try to help increase production of necessary supplies such as ventilators.

Dr. Sanjay Gupta joins us now.

And Sanjay, these new measures we're hearing, more ventilators, testing, masks, some of which is coming from the Pentagon, some of which is coming from other places, definitely progress. But what else needs to be done? And how bad are we still situated right now?

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, I mean, look, there's actual numbers that you can look at to try and predict what we're going to need. And it's still not entirely clear if -- if even the production, the amped-up production is going to meet these needs.

Let's take a quick look. I think we have a moderate sort of pandemic scenario and a more severe scenario, Jake. You and I have talked about these numbers. Let's just focus on the moderate, the left side of the screen.

One million hospitalizations, 200,000 ICU beds, and again, we have about 92,000 ICU beds, just under 100,000. So, you know, they've got to have to figure out ways to repurpose different rooms to make that work.

But Jake, let me just give you the practicalities from someone who works in the hospital. First of all, you need people to then run those ventilators, respiratory technicians. They're the ones who really do that work. We don't have enough of them either.

The rooms that may be retrofitted, they not only need power supply, they need a backup power supply, because ventilators, they can't ever lose power, right? They also need oxygen.

My point is, there's a lot that goes into this, not just sort of repurposing rooms or creating more space. You've got to have the right sort of space.

And the same thing with the ventilators. You need the right type of ventilators. So we're getting there, but you know, there's real specifics and details that need to be focused on.

TAPPER: And let's be clear here, because I think people hear the term "ventilator," you know, they haven't -- they know it from "E.R." or whatever. But they don't really know what we're talking about. We're talking about a machine that breathes for you, because you can't breathe on your own.

GUPTA: Right. It -- it gives you oxygen and removes carbon dioxide both, that oxygenates and it ventilates, which means removing carbon dioxide. For somebody who's in severe lung disease, has severe lung disease or has developed respiratory distress, it's a lifesaving tool. I mean, most people, I think, know that, but these are -- these are really critically important machines. And it's not clear we have enough of them.

TAPPER: And if we have tens of thousands -- we don't really have a firm number. The government has either avoided or not been able to get to that number and tell us how many there are. But if we have tens of thousands, and it turns out we need hundreds of thousands --

GUPTA: Right.

TAPPER: -- what does that mean? GUPTA: Yes. I mean, look, and we do have some numbers that I can show

you again, based on some of the modeling we've looked at.

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Sixty-four thousand, roughly, ventilators would be needed during a -- during a moderate pandemic. Right now, 62,000 available, 10,000 in the stockpile. You say, well, that number is higher than 64. True, except that most of those 72 are being used right now. It's flu season. People who are in the hospital for all sorts of different reasons. So you have nowhere near enough.

Jake, the answer to your question is, what do you do if you have somebody who needs a ventilator, and there's somebody who's already on the ventilator? I mean, those are the tough choices that are happening already in certain parts of the world, trying to determine which of these patients is more likely to survive and doctors having, and nurses having to make those triage decisions. It's painful, I think, you know, for them to do that.

TAPPER: Meaning they come across somebody who is 75 and needs a ventilator and somebody who is 45 who needs a ventilator. The 75-year- old's not going to get a ventilator.

GUPTA: That's all -- you know, age is often one of those things that ends up being the determining criteria.

But the -- you know, look, what if the 75-year-old was perfectly healthy up until the time they contracted the virus, or something else, the flu, whatever it might be. I mean, you know, there are healthy, very healthy 75-year-olds.

So these are tough decisions, Jake, which is why we should have been planning for this for some time. The numbers I just showed you, I didn't make those numbers up. They came originally from the federal government. Everyone has access to these numbers.

And again, I didn't even focus on the severe side of things, I'm just focusing on the moderate side of things, because that takes into account that we're going to have some mitigation of this, some slowing down of this. So, you know, we have some real goals to hit here.

TAPPER: I want you to listen to Dr. Deborah Birx at today's press conference, talking about how more young people are becoming seriously ill. Take a listen.

GUPTA: Yes.

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DR. DEBORAH BIRX, WHITE HOUSE CORONAVIRUS TASK FORCE RESPONSE COORDINATOR: There are concerning reports coming out of France and Italy about some young people getting seriously ill and very seriously ill in the ICUs.

(END VIDEO CLIP) TAPPER: What's your message to the young people out there who think they're invincible?

GUPTA: Well, look, I mean, I think a lot of -- we're dealing with the novel virus. A lot of the -- what we heard initially out of China, very early data, was that, you know, this was primarily something that just affected older people.

As more and more people have been infected around the world, a clearer picture of this virus and what it does is emerging.

For example, some of the young people who contracted the virus in China recovered. Now they're being examined a month, two months later, and they're finding that in some of those patients, they have 20 to 30 percent decreased lung function. They have evidence of scarring in the lungs, which is, you know, a more permanent form of damage.

They are listed as recovered. That's true, they have recovered, but you know, it definitely left its toll on some of these young people, as well. So recovery doesn't mean they didn't get sick. And -- and I think that's a really important point.

TAPPER: Dr. Sanjay Gupta, thank you so much.

As the coronaviruses changes lives around the world, we're going to continue to bring you answers to questions about the pandemic. Tune in to the CNN global hall -- town hall, live in partnership with Facebook, hosted by Dr. Sanjay Gupta and Anderson Cooper. That's tomorrow, 10 p.m. Eastern.

Hand sanitizer now on tap. We're going to visit a distillery that has stopped making spirits, instead to make thousands of bottles of sanitizer every week. Stay with us.

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TAPPER: In lots of places across the country, hand sanitizer is impossible to come by. So in the American spirit, some distilleries are now getting creative, using their high-proof alcohol to try to help others combat the coronavirus.

CNN's Miguel Marquez shows us how.

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MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Eight Oaks Distillers in Eastern Pennsylvania, like everywhere, was about to shut down and wait out the pandemic. Then its owner, Chad Butters, husband to a cancer survivor, saw another need for the main ingredient in hand sanitizer: alcohol.

CHAD BUTTERS, FOUNDER, EIGHT OAKS FARM DISTILLERY: We're very good at making alcohol. That's our business. And so what we can do is we can take that alcohol, and we can add some inactive ingredients and create the hand sanitizer that people are in need of. MARQUEZ: The local cancer support group needed it. So did hospitals,

emergency services, nearby towns and businesses that had to keep working.

BUTTERS: This is an unprecedented time that we're in. I don't think it's a time for panic or chaos, but it is a time for a sense of urgency and purpose. And I think that's what's happening within the community now.

MARQUEZ: So appalled at reports of hoarding and price gouging, Eight Oaks stopped making vodka, gin, and bourbon and cranked up the sanitizer.

BUTTERS: We're literally taking what was going to be a bourbon run, and now we are going to make that a very high-proof alcohol instead. We'll add ingredients like glycerin to make it more viscous on your hands, and a little bit of peroxide. That's the World Health Organization's kind of recipe.

MARQUEZ (on camera): As simple as that.

BUTTERS: It's very, very simple. The thing is, is just the alcohol is the hard part. We already know how to do that.

MARQUEZ (voice-over): Just hours after hatching the plan, the first batch, only a few hundred bottles. The requests way more than they can fill. They were in desperate need for even more bottles.

LYNN ELKO, DONATING THOUSANDS OF BOTTLES: This is bottle stock that we have left over. We had a soap and lotion business where we employed adults with disabilities.

MARQUEZ: Lynn Elko shut that business down a few years ago due to personal reasons. She heard about Eight Oaks Distillery and had just what they needed sitting in storage, all for free.

(on camera): What does this say about what we have to do now?

ELKO: It says the last time I checked, we're not in this alone. That we all have to come together to keep moving everything forward, to keep everybody healthy and well.

MARQUEZ (voice-over): Butters, who retired from the Army in 2015, is now scaling up. The Army Chief Warrant Officer 5, turned entrepreneur, expects to churn out 10,000 bottles a week. Not only is he keeping his 25 employees working, but if it turns out right, he'll be hiring.

(on camera): I'm sure you didn't think you'd be busier, given what's happening.

[16:55:03]

BUTTERS: No, but we are 100 percent committed to, you know -- to providing this product out to the people that need it in the community. It's perfect. MARQUEZ (voice-over): One business, one community in rural Pennsylvania, coming together in a time of need. Scrawled on a whiteboard in their makeshift workspace, their simple mission: Get hand sanitizer to those in need.

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MARQUEZ: Now, if you thought this story couldn't get any sweeter or nicer, you might ask, how much are they selling it for? They're giving it away. They're asking for donations if people can, but anybody who needs it, they're giving it away for free -- Jake.

TAPPER: What a great story and what a fantastic contrast with those nitwits we're seeing at spring break in Florida. Miguel Marquez, thanks so much.

Coming up next, CNN will talk to one of the nation's governors, taking actions to combat the spread of coronavirus. Stay with us.

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